M: Hello all, I'm back again
I'm sorry for not updating TCatR or PAW-Patrol Holiday Short Stories, but I have my reasons. TCatR is still a little in flux, and I'm limiting HSS to Christmas.
But I feel like I owe you something, I figured this would be nice, besides, I wanted to practise with day and time, as well as flashbacks. I think this turned out pretty well, what says you?
I'll upload this in two pieces, this is the first part, the second will come in two weeks time.
Enjoy!
- Tuesday, 1 pm –
My name is Chase Trigger, I'm a member of the PAW-Patrol, and well… I think I'm in love. No, I'm sure of it. What I'm feeling is more than just a crush, it IS love. For the first time in my life, there was someone I'd do anything for. Someone who meant more to me than anything. Sometimes I curse myself for these feelings, why couldn't I just be in love with Skye, like I pretended to be for years? I would go day in, day out pretending that I had a sweet spot for her, I even convinced my best friend Marshall of it, but at the end of the day, when I went to sleep, there was someone else haunting my dreams. There were thousands of female pups around the world, and I had to fall for a male one, typically my luck. Yes, I am gay, and yes, no one knows. Which is why I've made the decision to do what I've done. The PAW-Patrol is a beautiful institution, and it shouldn't have to suffer a leader that's so hopelessly in love with someone who'll never return those feelings. I came upon this realisation earlier today, thanks to my friends, my former teammates.
Now for the important things:
Skye, I'm sorry for misleading you like that. I naturally feel sorry for deceiving the others, but it was more personal to you than anyone else. So for that, I'm sorry, and I hope you find someone who really loves you.
Ryder, I'd advice you to make Marshall your new second in command, since that position is now empty.
With that, I'd like to conclude this letter, and thank you for the time I spent with you, with this family. I thank you for everything we shared, every chance we had to grow. I thank you for each lesson that we learned. I'll take the best of them and live by their example; wherever I go.
Yours sincerely,
Chase Trigger, Ex-PAW-Patroller
As Ryder looked up from the paper at his guilty-faced pups, there was only one thought in his head, and one thing he said:
"What the hell happened?!"
- 24 hours earlier -
Zuma, Marshall, Chase and Rocky were playing frisbee outside, while Rubble and Sky were facing off against each other at Pup Pup boogie. Ryder was leaning on the balcony's fence on top of the lookout as he watched his pups play.
"Hey Chase, catch" Zuma shouted at the shepherd, who was so deep in thought that he missed the frisbee and it hit him right in the head.
"AH!" Chase yelled as he was knocked back.
"Chase, you alright?" Marshall asked as he approached Chase. "You seem to be a bit distracted"
"I'm fine, nothing for you to worry about" Chase said as he walked towards the lookout. "I need to check on something, why don't you keep playing"
Marshall picked the frisbee back up and tossed it at Zuma, the dalmatian knew that if Chase didn't want to talk about something, he wouldn't talk about it. Rocky, however, also left the game, since he hadn't learned that lesson.
"Wocky! Whewe awe you going?" Zuma shouted
"I'm going to check up on Chase" Rocky shouted back over his shoulder. "You two should just keep playing"
Rocky then entered the lookout and called the elevator. The lookout has four floors: the ground floor where Rocky was now, the middle floor that housed the locker-room with their equipment, the top floor with the briefing room, and the basement. Considering Chase might want some time alone to think, he wouldn't go to the top floor, that's where Ryder was. Although he means well, Ryder can sometimes be the opposite of helpful with emotional issues. Marshall and Zuma may not have seen it, but Rocky believed Chase to be in trouble, or something. So that's why he was following the shepherd, to avoid something bad from happening.
Knowing the locker-room was literally in the centre of the lookout, Rocky guessed that Chase had gone to the basement, where each of the pups had a small room. Rocky's room was like a miniature lab to run his experiments, while Rubble had made his a shrine to Apollo the super pup. Rocky had never seen Chase's room, part of him thought it to be just a simple storage unit, since the shepherd was never there.
As the elevator arrived, coming from downstairs, Rocky confirmed his suspicions. When the mix entered and pressed the button for the basement, he noticed that the panel with buttons was a little loose, and he made a mental note to fix it later, now he had more urgent matters to attend to.
When he reached the basement, he took a left turn towards Chase's unit. It had been years since he had designed this place, but he was still proud of the way it turned out. He had based the design on that of the upstairs pup houses, making an underground ring with rooms inside of it. This also allowed them to make each room the same size. When Rocky arrived at Chase's room, the door was unlocked.
"Hey Chase, you in there?" Rocky asked as he knocked. When no answer came, he opened the door, and looked inside. Considering that this was his first time there, he didn't know how organized it usually was, but the mess came as a surprise anyway. He saw Chase sitting at a desk with his back to the door, and headphones covering his ears. The shepherd was surrounded by paper, some were blueprints of the lookout, new and old, while others displayed detailed maps of the region. Rocky also spotted several brown folders, which bore the logos of several police departments, and even the FBI and DEA. When Rocky walked towards Chase, he saw that the shepherd was paying close attention to an informative video on several different forms of communication.
"Uhm Chase, what is all this?" Rocky asked, but due to the headphones, Chase still didn't notice him. That was until Rocky tapped him on the shoulder. As Chase threw down his headphones and turned around, Rocky could read both shock and anger on the shepherd's face.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" he shouted at a terrified Rocky.
"I-I went to see if you were alright" Rocky said "What's all this?"
"Uhm…" Chase said as he walked past Rocky towards the door. "Can I trust you?"
"Well, I know we haven't always been the best of friends, but I am one of your teammates, and that implies that you can trust me" Rocky said "Besides, after seeing all this, you really think I won't figure out what you're doing?"
"Fair point" Chase said as he closed the door, revealing a whiteboard on its back that Rocky hadn't seen yet, with a picture of each of the residents of Adventure Bay, including the members of the PAW-Patrol. "Two weeks ago, I received a call from DEA agent Patrick Stride, asking for a meeting with me, something about a drug network based in the major cities surrounding Adventure Bay. When I asked further, he told me he couldn't say anything more over the phone"
"What did he tell you?" Rocky asked
"Nothing, he never made it here" Chase responded as he took one of the DEA files. When he opened it, Rocky realized it to be a personnel file. But the photo attached to it seemed to be very familiar. "He was the guy that died in the car crash"
"That's where I knew him from" Rocky said "We were both accompanying Ryder there on the mission"
"Ever since I've tried to piece together why that DEA agent wanted to speak with me, but I can't trust anyone" Chase said as he walked to another table filled with paper.
"Why is that?" Rocky asked "Does it have something to do with this board?" Rocky asked as he stared at his own picture, cut from a group photo Ryder and the pups once took.
"I know the detective on the case, he still owed me a favour" Chase said "So I asked him for a copy of the file that the DEA agent had brought with him. It was about the criminal syndicate running the major cities around here, and agent Stride believed they'd infiltrate Adventure Bay next. Unfortunately, I fear they already have. Not only was the agent killed here, the cities completely under the control of this syndicate have direct roads leading to Adventure Bay. I think that their leadership resides here, and is hiding in plain sight"
"Seriously?!" Rocky asked "Who do you think it could be?"
"Anyone on the board" Chase replied "From the mayor to even Ryder"
"You think Ryder would be capable of this?" Rocky asked "I mean, he founded the PAW-Patrol, an organization to protect people"
"I know, but it shows he has the skills to create another organization, which would be less kind-hearted" Chase replied "Right now, everyone is a suspect, except the two of us"
"Why do you believe I'm innocent?" Rocky asked "Don't you think I'd be smart enough?"
"Oh trust me, that's not it. If you'd turn to the dark side, you could rule the world" Chase said chuckling, before continuing. "But I now trust you, because if you were part of the syndicate, you would have killed me by now, and made it look like an accident. And it does feel nice to trust someone again"
"That's nice, Chase" Rocky said "So what's our plan of attack?"
"We'll need to investigate everyone, including the PAW-Patrol" Chase said "Who has the skills to run the syndicate, who is hiding something, and how do they actually run it"
"Speaking of secrets, you know what I've always wondered?" Rocky asked "How a ten-year-old acquired the money to create a rescue team"
"You think Ryder is a suspect?" Chase asked as he too looked at the board.
"No, but if we need to investigate people's secrets, we might as well start at home" Rocky said "Do you have any coffee?"
- Monday, 6 pm –
Rocky and Chase were both working in Chase's room, this time with the door locked, and the important files and other things stuffed away. Rocky was looking through several financial databases that he had hacked into, trying to figure out where the donation for the PAW-Patrol came from. All that Rocky had pieced together, so far, was that Ryder, a brilliant boy of 9 years old, was given 10 million dollars, along with a piece of land and a set of blueprints, all under the condition that he would form a rescue team of pups. By the time he reached his tenth birthday, he had founded the PAW-Patrol, and built the lookout according to the blueprints he received. Unfortunately, Rocky had traced to money to a shell corporation, which was funded by another shell corporation, and so on.
Chase, on the other hand, was working to figure out how the syndicate was commanded from a small town like Adventure Bay, but he had far less luck than Rocky. To run a syndicate like that, you had to have a room, at least, dedicated to that organization, but Chase couldn't find any such room. Considering that the only way to find it would be to analyse each building individually, it took Chase a lot of time and effort, without results. When he finally finished the blueprint of City Hall, he took a break and looked at the clock, surprised of how late it was.
"Rocky, it's almost dinnertime, we need to go before they miss us" Chase said as he rolled up the remainder of the blueprints and hid them in a drawer.
"Oh god, you're right!" Rocky said as he started to turn off his computer, but stopped upon reading something that just popped up on the screen. "Chase, I think I know where the money came from…"
"Huh? You found the source?" Chase asked as he walked to the computer. "Where did it come from…" he too lost his voice when he read what was on the screen.
"Seconds before the 7th shell corporation sent the 10 million, it received that same amount from someone's bank account" Rocky stated
"That someone is Henry Fickle, a dirty SEC accountant who has laundered money for cartels, and his skills helped to found the syndicate" Chase continued "The PAW-Patrol has been based on the suffering of others. It's all a lie"
"We need to go, Chase" Rocky said as he shut down the computer. "If someone donated 10 million to this place, they would have their reasons. I don't think we have countless suspects anymore"
"I'm afraid you're right" Chase said as he walked to the whiteboard, and took off most photos. "I fear we only have five left, and we're about to have dinner with them"
After cleaning up Chase's room, they left it carefully locked to go to the elevator. They got on it, and as Rocky pushed the button, he realized the panel had been fixed, and he thought Ryder would have done it while he was with Chase. It was only then that Rocky realized that that's exactly what the others were going to see if Chase and he arrived late at the same time, Rocky being with Chase, but in a totally different way than they had actually been.
As the elevator stopped at the ground floor, and the doors opened, all pups looked up from their bowls to look at the two pups.
"Hey dudes, had fun together?" Zuma asked with a grin.
"And you made me think you were into Skye" Marshall joked, also smiling.
I hate being right
"Guys, it wasn't anything like that" Rocky proclaimed, before ignoring the others to chow down his food. Chase did the same, and during the entire meal, both of them looked at the others, with one constant thought in their heads:
Which one is it?
- Monday, 9 pm –
After finishing their meal, Rocky and Chase didn't want to give the others any reason to actually start believing that Rocky and Chase were a thing, so they both spent the evening playing with the other pups, until they both felt tired and left to their respective puphouses. Or at least, that's what they told the others. Both of them locked their puphouses and snuck down to the basement, to Chase's room, where they continued their work.
"So we have five suspects: Ryder, Marshall, Zuma, Skye and Rubble" Rocky stated as he and Chase were looking at the whiteboard. "How will we proceed?"
"We need to trace their footsteps, to find out where they were around the time of the wire transfers. If they were around syndicate territory, we'll have our suspect" Chase said "You take Ryder, I'll start on Rubble"
"Good luck" Rocky said, before walking to the computer and looking into Ryder. He started by trying all the search engines, and then the social media of Ryder, his parents, and anyone they knew back then. After hours of searching and scrolling through some of the dumbest selfies imaginable, he finally found an old picture of Ryder sitting on a man's lap, while both were eating an ice-cream cone. They were sitting on a bench at the edge of Central Park, far away from the syndicate, and Rocky managed to check the date from the newspaper stall behind them on the other side of the street.
"Hey Chase, good news, Ryder isn't it!" Rocky said as he turned towards Chase, who then took Ryder's picture off the board. "How did you fare, did you find anything on Rubble?"
"Unfortunately, before joining the PAW-Patrol, Rubble didn't have any mobile devices, and neither did any of the other pups. I literally have no way to track them, they could've been on the moon for all I know" Chase said "But I did do one thing right, I managed to identify a major player within the syndicate, they call him the Ragger. He is a young golden retriever with fur dyed red and black. He has a claw mark scar over his right eye"
"And how does that help us?" Rocky asked
"It doesn't" Chase said "But he looks kind of cool"
"Then we have four suspects, and one of them could be a ruthless gang leader" Rocky said "And investigating them doesn't work"
"So what do we do?" Chase asked "Just sit here, while one of them uses us as cover?"
"No, we need to think out-of-the-box. So far, we've been investigating this by the book" Rocky said "And I think I have just the plan in mind"